Fire kills baby, 3 adults

Fire kills baby, 3 adults
NORTH VERNON, Ind. -- Fire swept through a southern Indiana home Sunday morning, killing three adults and a baby and producing smoke so thick it drove back a would-be rescuer, fire officials said. The one-story, ranch-style house was already fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, state Fire Marshal Roger Johnson said. He said the bodies of the three adults and the baby were found in a front room. The deaths boosted Indiana's fire fatalities in house fires this year to more than 80.
Nintendo's Wii sells fast
NEW YORK -- Nintendo Co.'s entry into the game console wars, the Wii, went on sale Sunday, and quickly sold out in many stores despite stocks that far surpassed those of the rival PlayStation 3, which went on sale two days earlier. "There were enough people in line to snap up almost all the units of the Nintendo Wii that we had in stock, so it was an instant sellout," said Circuit City spokesman Jim Babb. There were a few overnight campers, but most had lined up in the early morning.
Pay and benefits on risefor college presidents
WASHINGTON -- More college presidents are earning annual compensation of 500,000 or more, fueled in part by stiff competition by schools for the best candidates, according to a study. Some 112 of the 853 public and private university presidents surveyed said they had pay and benefits packages of more than half a million dollars, according to an annual report being published today in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The jump was more prominent among public university presidents, rising from 23 last year to 42. The median pay package for those leaders is now 374,846, about 4 percent higher than last year's median of 360,000. Audrey K. Doberstein, retired president of Wilmington College in Delaware, topped the list with a compensation package totaling 2.7 million.
Some reject O.J. interview
NEW YORK -- Several Fox affiliates have chosen not to broadcast "If I Did It," the two-part special where O.J. Simpson talks in hypothetical terms about his role in the 1994 killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Lin Broadcasting and Pappas Broadcasting, which own a combined nine Fox affiliates, have said they won't air it. Fox has scheduled the Simpson interview for Nov. 27 and 29. The television special precedes the Nov. 30 publication of a book where Simpson talks about how he would have committed the murders "if he were the one responsible."
One tall order in Boston
BOSTON -- A Boston businessman's proposal to build a 1,000-foot, 75-story glass-and-steel building that would tower over all others is a bold move in a city that favors colonial era church steeples over skyscrapers. Steve Belkin's proposed tower would top the city's current tallest building by more than 200 feet and 15 stories, reflecting a resurgence in the downtown commercial real estate market, observers say. The design by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano emerged last week in response to Mayor Thomas Menino's call in February for private development proposals to replace an aging city-owned parking garage in the heart of the Financial District.
For this peace rally, stayin bed, couple suggests
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter. But they don't want you marching in the streets. They'd much rather you just stay home. The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76, and Paul Reffell, 55, whose immodest goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace. "The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during it and after it," Reffell said Sunday. "Your mind is like a blank. It's like a meditative state. And mass meditations have been shown to make a change."
Warning over pope visit
ANKARA, Turkey -- The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians cautioned Turks in an interview published Sunday against creating "unpleasant incidents" during Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming trip to Turkey -- his first to a Muslim country. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said in an interview in the Sabah newspaper that the pope's Nov. 28-Dec. 1 trip was a great opportunity for Turkey, and he would tell the pontiff that the country belonged in the European Union, which Ankara has long sought to join. The pope's visit to Turkey was born out of Benedict's desire to meet Bartholomew, who has his headquarters in Istanbul, once ancient Constantinople. The pontiff has been trying to foster better relations between the Orthodox and Catholics, and will meet privately with Bartholomew on Nov. 29.
Associated Press
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